Housekeeping -"Philosophy of the Broom" -H&H Ship Service.

What I learned about myself having worked at H&H Ship and Environmental Services was th at if I were to put my mind  to it, I was capable of the job done. Nothing was impossible so long as I was performing for the benefit of the whole and less about myself. I was responsible for the safety and well being of those who worked under me in a volatile line of work that had caused a fatal accident and the whole company was under scrutiny by the various government of the state of California for a possible shut down. I was moved by the fact that most of the employees involved in this hazardous work were illiterate and had families to go home to. Most it seemed were oblivious to the fact that they were breathing toxic fumes and their bodies were literally covered by hazardous materials that came out of the Underground Storage Tanks that they were cleaning and they leave for home at the end of the day barely cleaned from their work day carrying with them the residue of the oil and sludge on their physical bodies if not on their cloths and most would probably play with their children and grandchildren once they got home. It was my duty to find the remedy for this at whatever cost.

My first impression of the yard itself was one of a mess with black oil and sludge splattered all over the ground around the work area and there was a shack that had a filthy refrigerator in it where the 'yard boys' would hung out to rest. When i walked around this shack it smelled of urine as there was no restrooms nearby. The ground was covered with greenish algae and muddy when stepped into as there was no proper drainage to talk of; in short it was simply filthy and we were located not three kilometers from downtown area of Market Street, San Francisco. I made up my mine then and there to clean up as my priority and clean i did by practically flipping the whole yard upside down. I made a pact with Will Harris Jr. that if he were to change his bad habits of booze and cocaine addiction, I would help him turn the company around and he did. He spent sometime at a rehab center and later returned to run the company as its president. Together we set about upgrading the facility and i was invited for my opinion what was needed to be done before a group of engineers in Will's office. Will Jr. or better known as 'Little Foot' among the employees went on to become the Entrepreneur of the Year for the City of San Francisco in less than two years. 

Bill as I called him was a high school Quarterback and highly intelligent and energetic in his younger days with a bright future being the only son of a millionaire father. Then he lost his wife and son in a auto accident and his life took a downward curve into drinking and drug use. He was in a very bad shape when I first encountered him, however he recovered and took control of himself and the company like he was meant to be and even his physical appearance transformed into a clean cut business man. One of his brainchild for the company was to set up the Emergency Response Team for toxic and hazardous waste discharge, (HAZMAT) in and around the Bay Area. I lived in the basement at his home in Oakland for a brief period of time while he was away on the drug rehab retreat and it was fun as it had a Jacuzzi right at the front entrance, there was a drum set and an large electronic organ in the room that had a waterbed. This was the house that I was supposed to have cleaned the yard in the first place when I applied for the job at H&H.

A whole lot of drama happened as I jumped from being a sweeper to the Yard Boss which included having a man punched and a knife put to my neck. There were a whole lot envy and discontent as everyone wanted to become the boss and I was new and the most unlikely character for it; I was also not a White Man and most of the truck drivers were not too keen to take orders from an Asian. But I had the backing of my boss and that of the lowest ranking employees most of whom saw what i was doing for their benefit. Most of them were African Americans and Latin Americans, including a 72 year old Native American and his grandson, two or three Filipinos a couple of Cubans and a Vietnamese. I had to learn to communicate with all these mixed group of people to get things moving and most were not highly educated if educated at all. Some carry guns in the trunk of the cars while others were either half drunk or stone and never dared to question. But i told them as it was when getting a job done and kept reminding them of the consequences that had happened with the former supervisor who was blown up sky high due to taking things for granted.

I called my work approach as " The Broom Philosophy ", because i focused mostly on keeping a clean house no matter what else happens. Housekeeping became the key principle in the yard. It all boils down to keeping a clean work environment to ensure safety for one and all.
#USTD, # work safety, #HAZMAT team.# ship services.